League of Legends patch 9.18 nerfs Akali and Aatrox in the run up to Worlds 2019

The League of Legends World Championships 2019 are approaching and patch 9.18 is Riot’s attempt at encouraging “champion diversity” without shaking things up too much. With this in mind, it’s toned down both Aatrox and Akali, and introduced plenty of other minor tweaks to champions too.

Aatrox has been a staple of pro play for a long while now, so Riot has nerfed his sustain and waveclear in the late laning phase (around level 7-11) to “hit his flexibility in lane matchups” and “ability to flex into multiple roles”.

In a similar vein to Aatrox’s changes, Akali’s power has been limited “before her level 11 spike”. The stun on her R1 has also been removed entirely, to promote counterplay.

In other champion changes, a number of ranged ADCs have been buffed. Xayah’s survivability has been increased, while both Caitlyn and Jhin’s laning power should be a little better too.

Oh, but there's more. Everyone’s favourite Yordle, Teemo, has had some quality of life updates, and Lee Sin’s early game has also been strengthened, so he should have a bigger impact when ganking in the laning phase.

For an in-depth overview of all the changes in patch 9.18, head on over to the official patch notes page. It’s scheduled to go live later today, so make sure you give it a glance before heading in-game!